Lester Coolduras
is the austere second in command of the Elsior and Tact Mayer's best friend. Whereas the commander of this ship is carefree and easygoing, Lester ensured Tact fulfilled his duties while keeping the Elsior functioning as a proper military vessel. He later commands the Elsior for a time before becoming the Vice Chief of the UPW. Appearance Lester is one of the taller characters in the series and it matches well with his "no-nonsense" policy with his near-constant stern expression. Even so, Lester gains the initial trust of Elsior's crew by his good looks, something even Ranpha, someone with extremely high expectations, admits. He has neck length white hair while his left eye has his distinct eyepatch covering it. In all his appearances, Lester wears a red shirt underneath his uniform. In the first trilogy, Lester wears a primarily white uniform with shades of dark red/purple as highlights. Similar to how Tact has shoulder pauldrons, Lester has them as well with his personal colors. When he becomes vice chief the UPW, he wears similar colors but his uniform becomes more ornate with gold emblems and features more white. History Early Life Prior to the events of the story, Lester and Tact both attended a military academy where they, despite their differences in personality and work ethic, became inseparable friends. Whereas Lester succeeded in his classes and graduated as valedictorian, he gave the mantle of command to Tact, who comparatively did worse than him. They were both instructed by Luft Weizen. Apparently by Tact's memory, Lester still had the eyepatch ever since they met. Galaxy Angel Lester is present at the beginning of the game by Tact's side where they are both caught up in the post-coup conflict between Eonia and the remnant fleet loyal to Transbaal's deceased emperor. The two are given command of the Elsior and are tasked with escorting the last surviving member of the royal family, Shiva, to the Rhome system. Lester would notably be the only person on the Elsior to have complete faith in Tact's abilities and would assure the other crew members that Tact is not all that he seems. Lester would be omni-present on the Bridge during free segments and Almo would develop feelings for him early on but Lester's attitude and disregard for romance in general would make him oblivious. By the end of the game, Tact and Lester would be assigned to patrol the outer regions of the empire once more to find more Lost Technology as to make sure no one like Eonia find something as powerful as the Black Moon. In Forte's route, Lester would be transferred to another ship while Forte became subcommander. In Milfie's ending, Lester would become the commander of the Elsior and led the Angel Wing with Tact's early retirement. In the fan-dubbed "Lester Ending" where Tact does not end up with any of the Angels, Tact and Lester return to their positions of leading a small fleet in the outskirts of the empire, setting up Chitose's route. Moonlit Lovers In all routes minus Milfie and Forte, Lester would be present to discuss the message Tact had heard from the Space Whale. In Milfie's route, he would appear to assist a planet evacuate from the Raider Fleet while subsequently meeting Tact and Milfie and allowing the former to take control of the ship. Tact would be reinstated and the two would go back to their regular positions. In Forte's route, Lester arrives with Chitose on his cruiser, the Aiger, to relay reassignment orders and resumes being subcommander. In Chitose's route, Tact and Lester would once again be escorted to the Elsior to reprise their commanding roles. Lester's role would once again be similar in the first game as the second-in-command and be ever present on the Bridge. He is particularly impressed with Chitose's military knowledge and her by-the-books attitude. Eternal Lovers Tact and Lester would experience an episode in the start when Tact is called down after having a vivid nightmare of the Elsior being destroyed. The exasperated commander tearfully clung to his old friend while the latter tried to shake him off and brandish his pistol, all the while Almo despairs at thinking that Lester "was into that sort of thing" while Coco relished the opportunity to see their commanding officers act close. Lester is once again present at the Bridge working with logistics and administrative duties in combating the Val-Fasq. With the war taking its toll on both Tact and his chosen Angel's mental health, Lester was surprisingly more lenient with Tact this time around and shares more emotive conversations as the war neared its end. Even so, Tact's business in repairing his relationship left Lester with the brunt of administrative work. In Chitose's route, the traumatic event after the Elsior is forced to shoot down the Sharp Shooter leads to Chitose believing that she was in a relationship with Lester instead of Tact. While Forte joked that Lester had a secret relationship with Chitose in secret, Tact understands that she is just confused after the events that transpired. Lester's full inadequacy in romantic affairs would be seen as he would try to imitate being Chitose's significant other. Lester would cooperate with Tact to make sure that this problem was sorted out and he is apologized to by Chitose after the ordeal ends. Zettai Ryoiki no Tobira After the events of the defeat of the Val-Fasq, Noa would discover a Chrono Gate near Juno and the Elsior's crew enter through the gate to reach ABSOLUTE. There they find the Central Globe facility and find that Milfie was able to operate the machines inside the Master Core, allowing for the opening and closing of the countless Chrono Gates that led to different, parallel universes. The first universe with a surviving civilization would be NEUE and Lester would join the Elsior in its first expedition. Once the Luxiole and the Rune Angel Wing initiative takes place, Lester is promoted to the rank of Colonel and becomes the commander of the Elsior with Tact and Coco's leave. Almo remains with him as the chief operator. In the opening events of Zettai Ryoiki no Tobira, he is seen on communications with Tact on the Bridge where he informs the latter that the Elsior has been ordered back to EDEN along with the EDEN Emblem Frames. Chitose joins him on the Elsior after her previous service in training the military on Seldar, the capital planet of NEUE. In this brief scene, Lester and Chitose meet the new member of the Angel Wing, Kazuya. Noting Kazuya's prompt response and awareness, Lester quips at Tact, at how different the young lieutenant is to someone he knows. Later, Lester signs off by advising Kazuya to persevere under the leadership of a fool while Tact addressed Almo in persevering in her love life with someone so dense. When the Luxiole is unable to taken down Verel's Shadow Moon, Lester arrives in the nick of time to repel the Shadow Moon for a while with the Chrono Break Cannon. After the Luxiole is able to annihilate the Shadow Moon with the Dual Chrono Break Cannon, he deploys the Moon Angel Wing to assist in confronting Verel. Mugen Kairo no Kagi Lester greets the Luxiole's crew when they arrive inside the Central Globe and he explains with Almo that they have been reassigned to the newly formed UPW. However, Lester quickly ends the chatting session to hunt down Tact who has recently been ignoring his duties. Eigou Kaiki no Toki Along with the rest of the Elsior's crew that was brought together to celebrate the liberation of EDEN from the Val-Fasq, Lester was onboard the Luxiole during its commemorative flight and on Juno in the celebration event. This small vacation time would come to an end as the Elsior responded to the Infinite Corridor's signatures and arrived at Val-Rundal to assist the Luxiole repulse the Will fleet. He boarded the Luxiole after the Elsior was sacrificed and is met in the Bridge. Tact explains that he still wanted to be commander for old times sake and has the Elsior's bridge team reprise their roles while the Luxiole's bridge hands were given an extended break. Tact issues orders and immediately sets off to take a nap with Lester starting to yell at him. He along with the rest of the male crew on both of the ships would be present on Transbaal to help Rico overcome her reflex against males. With the Will making its move in NEUE, Tact proposes that the Elsior's crew be dropped off by the Central Globe and in the last Briefing before departure, Tact has everyone give their successors words of encouragement. Lester has a word with Tapio and notes on how fortunate the latter is on having a level-headed Commander. Tact and Lester remain in the Central Globe to assist the EDEN military fight against the Will. Lester is seen at the finale as he and Tact are forced to evacuate the Central Globe as the Will tear it apart in preparation for the Big Crunch. He and Tact contact the Luxiole to return to ABSOLUTE immediately and after the Big Crunch is nullified by the neutralization of the Central Globe, the two lead the allied fleets against the Will forces while the combined Angel Wing assault the Will capital ship. Personality With Tact's easygoing and goofy nature being the main "viewpoint" of the series, Lester acts first and foremost as his direct contrast. Stern, hardworking, and intent on operating the Elsior with little nonsense as possible, Lester is the one who keeps the Bridge and the rest of the ship in line in place of its commander. He is the one ordering for the crew to enter battlestations during combat and constantly reminding the crew to not talk about their private lives during work hours. For this reason, many would think Lester would be more fitting as commander but he insists that Tact is the most fit to lead as he describes him having "the ability to make people at ease". However, as much faith Lester puts in Tact, he still finds his friend's antics irritating and often leads to threatening him to stop and return to work. In the first game, Lester mostly praised Tact's prowess in their accomplishments but with each subsequent game, Lester would grow more stressed and snide. A straight man in the truest sense of the word, Lester takes Tact's somewhat goofy antics in stride and never hesitates to put his friend back on track. While he is well aware of Tact's ability in combat, it's the way he is outside of battle that worries him. It could be said that while Tact goes around improving the crew member's mental health, it is Lester's duty to keep Tact in shape. He excels at identifying enemy formations and ship classes, as well as day-to-day logistics of running the ship. Paired with Tact, whose talent lies in an uncanny ability to second-guess his opponents and take advantage of any weakness (be it in a formation or the ability of an enemy ship), the two make a fearsome duo that overcame many odds. Whereas any other "friend" or colleague would feel impartial of his superior officer running off to befriend a group of girls, Lester perfectly understands the circumstances of which Tact must deal with. Lester saw Tact's regular avoidance of duties to be with the Angel Wing as a positive, utilitarian asset to assist their fighting power. However, he still had genuine concern over Tact's romantic issues but rarely got involved unless Tact had to be confronted personally. Without question, Lester valued work over his private life and kept the two distinctly separate. In the first game, Tact could apply Lester's ethics to his life and end up with a choice to either prioritize his duty as a soldier over being an Angel's significant other and choosing the former will drop the relationship, Cluing in on that conclusion, Lester is heavily admired by Almo but he fails to notice any of her advances. While this "relationship" would start from the beginning of the series, not even in the 2nd trilogy would Lester would take notice. He quipped at how settling down with a loved one might sound nice but quickly returns to his regular stance on romance near the end of Eternal Lovers. Trivia *Lester's first name is derived from an English hard cheese called Leicester, while his last name is from a French cheese called Coeur d'Arras * In one of the Galaxy Angel manga by Kanan, Tact makes up a story about how Lester transforms into a beautiful woman when his eyepiece is removed, shocking Almo. He is then beaten to a pulp by an enraged Lester. * The above joke was referenced in the audio drama portion of Chitose Karasuma's CD. She is hosting a radio talkshow, and at one point begins reading letters from listeners. One of the letters she reads on-air asks if it is true Lester becomes a beautiful woman when his eyepiece is removed. She comments that she has heard the rumor, but as far as she knows it is not true. She does, however, admit that she would love to find out. It is yet unknown if she will find it false. * In the Galaxy Angel Perfect Guide, his name is romanized as Rester Cooldaras. * Exactly, it is never revealed how or why Lester wears an eyepatch. Category:Male Characters Category:Game Characters Category:Manga Characters Category:Transbaal Empire Armed Forces personnel Category:EDEN Armed Forces personnel Category:United Parallel Worlds personnel Category:Elsior Crewmembers